“Show her who’s in power. Make it crystal clear that she does what I say or we don’t stop. We’ll make her life a living hell.”
He stands in front of me. “I thought we were done wasting our time on this shit. Everyone knows we run the school. Can’t we just forget all this and spend our last semester drinking and getting laid?”
“This isn’t a waste of time. She’s out of line. She needs to know who’s in charge here.” I stare down the hall at Ella, who stopped to talk to Ms. Higgins, our AP Chem teacher. Nobody except Ella talks to the teachers outside of class. She’s always sucking up, but it won’t do her any good. The valedictorian title is based strictly on grades, not how much ass kissing you do.
“What’d she do to piss you off?” Parker asks.
“None of your damn business.”
“So what exactly do you want me to do?” I turn and see him staring at Ella, his lips creeping up. “I could take her around back. Feel her up.” He chuckles. “I bet a guy’s never even touched her.”
For whatever reason, it pisses me off to hear him talking about touching Ella. If anyone’s going to touch her that way, it’s going to be me. I almost did yesterday when I had her all alone behind the bleachers, but then decided to give her a chance to think about my offer. But she made the wrong decision, so no more holding back. She’s mine now — mine to destroy.
“I don’t want you touching her,” I say, watching as Ella goes into the classroom. “I want you to make her fail. Get one of the geeks to hack into her school account and delete her homework.Do shit to make her late to class. Do whatever it takes to destroy her grades.”
“Why do you give a shit about her grades?”
I grab his arm. “Just do what I said. And don’t get Finn involved in this. He’ll take it too far and ruin everything.”
“What are you saying about me?” Finn appears, throwing his arm around Parker’s shoulder.
“Nothing, shithead.” Parker shoves Finn’s arm off him. “Where the hell you been?”
“With Trina.” He slowly grins. “The girl’s got talent like you wouldn’t believe.”
“I don’t know how you do it,” Parker says.
“Do what?”
“Get girls to want you. Briggs and me, it makes sense. We got muscles and shit. But why the hell would anyone want your skinny ass?”
“I’m not skinny!” Finn shoves him.
Parker shoves him back — so hard that Finn stumbles back. “That’s what happens when you have muscles. When you shove someone, they actually move.”
“You fucker!” Finn charges at Parker.
I get between them, grabbing Finn by the shoulders. “Calm the fuck down!” I say in a hushed voice as people walk past us. Everyone’s used to Finn’s temper but usually it’s directed at others, not his best friends. The three of us fight all the time, but not in front of people. When we’re at school, we need to appear united. It’s how we keep our power.
Mr. Lander, one of the English teachers, walks up to us. “Everything okay here?”
“We’re good.” I smile at him and yank Finn under my shoulder. “Just joking around.”
Lander’s eyes go to Parker, then Finn and me. “You boys should get to class. The bell’s about to go off.”
“Yes, sir,” Parker says, trying to sound respectful. He’s totally playing the guy. He does it with all his teachers. It’s why they think he’s the good one in our group, the one most likely to follow the rules. Finn’s the immature one who can’t stay focused and is always finding trouble. And I’m the serious one who gets good grades but doesn’t like being told what to do. I can turn on the charm when I need to, just like Parker can. I just don’t always choose to.
“Have a good day,” Mr. Lander says, walking away.
I lean down to Finn, putting my face up to his. “Get your shit together or I’ll do it for you.”
He glances away, his jaw tightening. He doesn’t like taking orders from me but he will because he knows I’m in charge.
“The fucker needs to keep his mouth shut,” Finn says, glaring at Parker.
“Go,” I say to Finn, keeping my voice down. “People are staring.”
Finn turns and goes down the hall, catching up with Trina and grabbing her ass.
